DANIEL GONZALEZ
The Arizona Republic

This week's kidnapping of a 14-month-old Mexican girl by three men at the U.S. border highlights the dangers inherent in a growing trend.
U.S. and Mexican officials say rising numbers of illegal immigrants are trying every way possible to smuggle their children and babies into Arizona through the desert and official ports of entry.

Most parents without documents are trying to reunite with relatives already in the United States and hire smugglers to help them get across the border through the desert, officials said.

That was the case Tuesday when 19-year-old Irma Alberto Gabriel of Michoacan, Mexico, tried to meet with a smuggler south of the border who would get her into the United States where she could be reunited with her husband in Ohio.

Instead, authorities say, she was greeted by three men who beat her, kidnapped her 14-month-old daughter and fled across the border.

Authorities found the girl in Douglas yesterday along with three smuggling suspects, said Rudy Bustamante, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. He described the baby as OK but was unaware if she was injured during the ordeal.

The suspects, whose names were not released, were in custody last night. Bustamante did not know what charges the three may face.

Immigration experts have said in the past that increased border enforcement prevents the mostly male illegal immigrants in the United States from returning to Mexico for fear they won't be able to come back. That has resulted in family members left behind trying to rejoin them.

But increasingly, Mexican parents are also handing over their children to smugglers to take them through ports of entry with fake documents to avoid the risk of their children crossing through the desert, officials said.

Last year, 205 undocumented immigrants died crossing the desert, including at least three under the age of 12.

"They believe it is less dangerous (than crossing through the desert), but to me it is just as dangerous one way or the other," said Miguel Escobar Valdez, Mexican consul in Douglas.